ICAST 2018 Quick Hits : New HIGH END UL rods from St. Croix

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ICAST 2018 Quick Hits : New HIGH END UL rods from St. Croix

Post by Cal » Fri Jul 13, 2018 6:49 pm

St. Croix introduced their Legend Elite Panfish series consisting of 5 spinning rods, two of which are UL's with fast tapers... there's a 5'-6" and a 6'-0" model... these sticks have titanium framed, torzite guides and will retail for between $360 - $380... FINALLY a high end stick for UL anglers!
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Re: ICAST 2018 Quick Hits : New HIGH END UL rods from St. Croix

Post by ss30378 » Sat Jul 14, 2018 7:10 am

Im looking forward to the blanks becoming available!

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Re: ICAST 2018 Quick Hits : New HIGH END UL rods from St. Croix

Post by Hobie-Wan Kenobi » Sat Jul 14, 2018 7:54 am

ss30378 wrote:Im looking forward to the blanks becoming available!
...yup
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Re: ICAST 2018 Quick Hits : New HIGH END UL rods from St. Croix

Post by Canga- » Sat Jul 14, 2018 7:00 pm

loving these, not crazy about the reel seat but not a deal breaker, those guides are killer. i have 3 of the regular legend elites (2 6'10" mlxf and a 6'3" mlxf) and love these rods. ill likely add either the 6'4" LXF or the 6'9" LXF.

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Re: ICAST 2018 Quick Hits : New HIGH END UL rods from St. Croix

Post by DirtyD64 » Sun Jul 15, 2018 7:24 am

Canga- wrote:loving these, not crazy about the reel seat but not a deal breaker, those guides are killer. i have 3 of the regular legend elites (2 6'10" mlxf and a 6'3" mlxf) and love these rods. ill likely add either the 6'4" LXF or the 6'9" LXF.
I've looked at St. Croix for an extra Light powered rod. They seem a bit softer so I felt the models you listed as owning, do you ever cast 1/16 heads with tiny plastics on the 6'3"MLxf??? That is the rod that felt closest to my current TFO 6'Light fast.

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Re: ICAST 2018 Quick Hits : New HIGH END UL rods from St. Croix

Post by IlliniDawg01 » Sun Jul 15, 2018 12:04 pm

No 7' casting model? Would have been a nice bfs option.

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Re: ICAST 2018 Quick Hits : New HIGH END UL rods from St. Croix

Post by timinmo » Sun Jul 15, 2018 4:21 pm

Looks like a new BFS build project to me.

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Re: ICAST 2018 Quick Hits : New HIGH END UL rods from St. Croix

Post by Canga- » Sun Jul 15, 2018 8:51 pm

DirtyD64 wrote:
Canga- wrote:loving these, not crazy about the reel seat but not a deal breaker, those guides are killer. i have 3 of the regular legend elites (2 6'10" mlxf and a 6'3" mlxf) and love these rods. ill likely add either the 6'4" LXF or the 6'9" LXF.
I've looked at St. Croix for an extra Light powered rod. They seem a bit softer so I felt the models you listed as owning, do you ever cast 1/16 heads with tiny plastics on the 6'3"MLxf??? That is the rod that felt closest to my current TFO 6'Light fast.
i havent thrown anything that small on the 6'3" mlxf, as almost all of my 1/16/plastics stuff is thrown on a '16 megabass destroyer lycoan. i have no doubts the LE would be able to handle it just fine, but that destroyer is too awesome to put down for that stuff. if you have any experience with the 6'10" mlxf LE (or ltb) i would say the 6'3" is about half a power lighter, and super sensitive (in my hands)

i might get out on tuesday morning for a bit for some stream smallies, ill try the 6'3" mlxf with a 1/16 and 2" senko (that i make) and see what its like.

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Re: ICAST 2018 Quick Hits : New HIGH END UL rods from St. Croix

Post by DirtyD64 » Sun Jul 15, 2018 11:16 pm

Canga- wrote:
DirtyD64 wrote:
Canga- wrote:loving these, not crazy about the reel seat but not a deal breaker, those guides are killer. i have 3 of the regular legend elites (2 6'10" mlxf and a 6'3" mlxf) and love these rods. ill likely add either the 6'4" LXF or the 6'9" LXF.
I've looked at St. Croix for an extra Light powered rod. They seem a bit softer so I felt the models you listed as owning, do you ever cast 1/16 heads with tiny plastics on the 6'3"MLxf??? That is the rod that felt closest to my current TFO 6'Light fast.
i havent thrown anything that small on the 6'3" mlxf, as almost all of my 1/16/plastics stuff is thrown on a '16 megabass destroyer lycoan. i have no doubts the LE would be able to handle it just fine, but that destroyer is too awesome to put down for that stuff. if you have any experience with the 6'10" mlxf LE (or ltb) i would say the 6'3" is about half a power lighter, and super sensitive (in my hands)

i might get out on tuesday morning for a bit for some stream smallies, ill try the 6'3" mlxf with a 1/16 and 2" senko (that i make) and see what its like.

That sounds about right for weight match up. I figure it will handle it fine though, the 6'3"ML xf Avid I handled at Bass Pro had a tip comparable to the TFO 6'Light I enjoy panfishing with so much. The TFO is fine, but a bit heavier than I would like and the Avid offers me a second new/different model to try for that style of fishing.

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Re: ICAST 2018 Quick Hits : New HIGH END UL rods from St. Croix

Post by Canga- » Sun Jul 22, 2018 10:53 pm

I used the 6’3” mlxf legend elite this morning for some smallie fishing with a 1/16 jig and either a 2” Senko or a baby rage craw (a lot of the time bitten down). Felt great, sensitivity with this rod in my hands is awesome, it cast the 2” Senko well.


Can’t wait for the 6’4” panfish version!

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Re: ICAST 2018 Quick Hits : New HIGH END UL rods from St. Croix

Post by Canga- » Fri Jul 27, 2018 7:51 am

Nothing to do with the panfish rods, but, with the 6’3” mlxf I landed a 40”, 45+ lb flathead catfish yesterday, with a 2018 Daiwa steez type 2, 6 lb j-braid x8 and a 8lb floro leader, it took about 20 mins, every time I got it near the boat it took off again. Rod handled it in stride, not a super powerful rod but it’s got a little backbone

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Re: ICAST 2018 Quick Hits : New HIGH END UL rods from St. Croix

Post by ShimanoFan » Fri Jul 27, 2018 8:04 am

Now that's how to build a tool! I mean a rod. Leave off all the unnecessary weight and strip it down to bare essentials.

I build my custom rods the same way. Only essentials are added to the rod. All non-essential weight is eliminated. I build tools, not works art work, and I am glad to see a big name in rods come around to doing it too- same as Falcon did with the Bucoo micro series.

Today I use bare minimal thread, no over runs. Bare minimal epoxy. No bulging. Foregrips are eliminated. And I prefer to use rod blanks with no finish coating on them that dampens the sensitivity or flakes off down the road like you see with other rods.

It does appear that these new SC rods are finish coated though... I leave that weight and vibration killer off my rods.

Here's a Dobyn's rod that came into our shop for guide and cork repairs recently. The finish coat is flaking off and cork is falling apart. This is what happens to a lot of rods when finish coated as seen in this thread.

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Low grade cork on this Chinese made Dobyns rod:

Image

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Re: ICAST 2018 Quick Hits : New HIGH END UL rods from St. Croix

Post by Hulkster » Tue Aug 14, 2018 5:46 am

there are interesting. the only other high end rod for light line anglers is the Loomis TSR rods (they are awesome) but these are quite a bit more.

I think they might have been better to market these as a trout rod rather than a panfish rod due to the high price.

Trout guys will pay it (just look at fly rods lol) not sure if crappie anglers will??

Agree on the reel seats though: not a big fan of the spinning model.

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Re: ICAST 2018 Quick Hits : New HIGH END UL rods from St. Croix

Post by Tim Kelly » Tue Aug 14, 2018 6:31 am

St Croix factory build spinning rods all have pretty poor handle designs. I don't know why, but presumably it must be something to do with making them stand out on the shelf. This series of rods looks great aside from the handle design. My last two legend spinning rods got the handles chopped off and I rebuilt them, it was less expensive than buying the components to build from scratch. Great blanks and love the torzites.

One other thing. The lure keeper they're fitting at the moment appears to be the most useless thing imaginable. How do things like that get designed? A spinning rod only needs a keeper that can hold a drop shot lead, an open hook can be put round the butt guide leg. The one they're fitting doesn't seem to do anything well, unless I'm missing some really obvious way of using it! LOL

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Re: ICAST 2018 Quick Hits : New HIGH END UL rods from St. Croix

Post by CM_Stewart » Wed Aug 15, 2018 6:55 am

Hulkster wrote:there are interesting. the only other high end rod for light line anglers is the Loomis TSR rods (they are awesome) but these are quite a bit more.

I think they might have been better to market these as a trout rod rather than a panfish rod due to the high price.

Trout guys will pay it (just look at fly rods lol) not sure if crappie anglers will??

Agree on the reel seats though: not a big fan of the spinning model.
There are lots of other high end rods for light line anglers - including rods for lines quite a bit lighter than most people use. They're Japanese rods made for the Japanese market. They aren't sold as crappie rods because they don't have crappies in Japan. They are sold as ajing rods, mebaru rods or trout "area" rods - look through Alphahawk's posts. Some are more readily available than others, and you do have to search them out, but they do exist.

What I don't understand is the whole idea that trout anglers will pay high prices but crappie anglers won't. Maybe trout anglers in general can afford to pay more for rods because they don't have to spend money on boats, but I think the question is not on what guys can afford to pay but what they're willing to pay. As near as I can tell, crappie anglers are just as obsessed with crappie fishing as trout anglers or bass anglers are (probably more so in many cases). Most trout anglers aren't rich and most crappie anglers aren't poor, so I don't understand why crappie anglers who could afford high end rods wouldn't buy them.
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